Affordable Houses Go Up

02/04/07 by
WK Real Estate

Four north Boulder homes marketed for $200,000 or less
By Jeremy Ryan, For the Camera
As Rocio Perez surveyed a north Boulder construction zone Saturday, her thoughts went beyond the dirt lot and skeletal frames to the neighborhood she'll join this summer.
"We get to be part of this community," she said. "There are no words to express how I feel."
Perez will move with her mother and son into a duplex in the Southern Lights project near 16th Street and Yarmouth Avenue. They are buying one of four homes developed by Affordable Housing Alliance, a Boulder nonprofit group.
The homes — one of which is still available — were marketed to families with limited incomes for $170,000 to $200,000. Median house prices in Boulder are more than $500,000.
The two duplex townhouses, which were started in December and should be completed in July, are part of the third development headed by the housing alliance since 1990. Its previous project, Northern Lights, is across the street.
"This idea was not only to develop four homes, but to develop a sense of community," said Mark Jellison, executive director of the nonprofit. "There's a clear need in the community for family housing."
Neighbors from Northern Lights welcomed the new families at a Raise the Roof celebration Saturday.
They were joined by members of several groups who helped make the project happen, by providing money, workers or both. Those included the Boulder Area Realtor Association, Wells Fargo, the city of Boulder, Wolff-Lyon Architects and Cottonwood Custom Builders Inc.
Dan Kingdom, chairman of the Realtor association's Project Home Committee, said this is the first time his group has participated in such a project but it won't be the last.
"The wonderful thing is the group effort of businesses coming together to provide housing for people in Boulder," Kingdom said. "I am confident that the feeling of community will carry on with the new homeowners."
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